I am sitting at Starbucks in Lititz watching the snow fall and thinking about what I just did in the last 24 hours. My wife and I got in a car, drove less than 3 hours and stopped at a Hampton Inn in Elizabeth, NJ. Our son was going to catch a plane to Brazil the next day. I slept 3 or four hours, got up at 3:30 a.m. and drove to JFK. My son and wife didn’t even sleep. They were talking, laughing and packing through the night.

We sad our teary good-byes and saw Josh get lost into the crowd going through the security line. He was flying to Sao Paulo, one of the biggest cities in the world, on his first international trip by himself. Needless to say, we did a lot of praying. We drove back to our hotel to catch some rest — and the “breakfast included” feature — and waited until our son texted to say he was sitting on the plane.

Then we drove back to Lititz to be reunited with our two dogs who had been cared for by our neighbor in our absence, had a couple of visitors and waited until we could call our son to make sure that he arrived safely in his destination, which we did sometime early evening.

Not too long ago we would have never been able to accomplish that much in only a 24 hour period. It would have taken a day by carriage to get to New Jersey and my son would need at least 30 days to get to Brazil aboard a transatlantic ship. Once there, we would need to wait until he got to a place where he could send us a “cable” saying he had arrived, but by then he would probably already on to his next stop on his South American trip.

So we are, officially, the generation with the capability of doing things faster and more expeditiously than any other that ever lived before us. And yet, are we any farther ahead than they were?

In the song that we will be looking at this Sunday (Psalm 90), one of the few written by Moses, he asks God to “teach us to number our days aright so we can achieve a heart of wisdom.” What I have learned as I studied for the message this week is that Moses is praying that we will learn to take into account the limitations of life as we carry on living.

In other words, in spite of the fact that we have access to the fastest and most reliable technologies to get things done, we are still fallible — our mind is limited, we are prone to make mistakes, and in the end we all die too soon.

I guess that is the reason many people who live without any of the technological advances we have in this part of the world can still experience joy and fulfillment — they understand that life is short and they try to make the best of every moment. And they have learned not to depend on stuff.

You would be surprised about what happens when sudden events force people to be stripped away from all the stuff in their to lives. In an instant, they have no other alternative but look inside themselves and realize what they really are. And if they are blessed, they will learn to look outside themselves as well and realize that their ultimate reason for living is none other than bring glory to the One who gave them life and sustains them. To Him alone be glory forever and ever.

Have a blessed New Year!

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

“Lord, through all the generations you have been our home! Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world, from beginning to end, you are God.” (Psalm 90:1, 2).